A coal gasification demonstration project that was licensed: Cool Water.

Ultimately, all large utility projects from the era became extinct. None were ever licensed by the Energy Commission.

II. The Geysers Boom and Bust (1979-1985)

The Energy Commission's first preferred technology was geothermal power. Geothermal plants were licensed in the Geysers of Sonoma and Lake Counties, until they literally began to run out of steam. To read a summary of this era (and a tribute to CEC Chairman Chuck Imbrecht), click on Geysers Boom and Bust.

Click on any of the following Geysers plants to read an individual siting case history:

To translate some acronyms, view all the siting cases listed alphabetically, and select any case history- click onA-Z.

III. Qualifying Facilities and the Cogeneration Era (1981-1990).

Power plants are bursting out in endless varieties, with cogeneration (another preferred technology) as king and the utilities on the sidelines. To read a summary of the hectic Qualifying Facility (QF) era, click on Qualifying Facilities..

Power plant applications at the CEC become fewer, and then stop entirely as the state prepares for deregulation. To read a summary of this period, click on The Void.Municipal utilities, especially SMUD, are the main applicants.

Everything goes wrong as deregulation collapses. But, before and after this failure, the Energy Commission is buried in merchant plant AFCs. For my attempt at an explanation, click on Deregulation & Merchant Plants..

The first 18 merchant plants are presented in alphabetical order. 17 were licensed. Click on any underlined plant to read its history.

My opinions on energy policy issues facing the state from a 2002 vantage point. Most of the changes I advocated would require action by the Legislature and the Governor, as well as the Energy Commission and other agencies. To read these heresies, click on Policy Observations.

This page was last updated on: March 18, 2015

The Jargon Understanding Glossary (JUG) was considered by many people to be my best work at the Energy Commission. It translates over a thousand acronyms into English. Such a document can never be completely up to date. JUG XIII is about 20 years old and only slightly updated. Nevertheless, click on JUG to give it a try.